Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(412)
- Faculty Publications (62)
- February 2018 (Revised June 2021)
- Case
New Constructs: Disrupting Fundamental Analysis with Robo-Analysts
By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Kyle Thomas
This case highlights the business challenges associated with a financial technology firm, New Constructs, that created a technology that can quickly parse complicated public firm financials to paint a clearer economic picture of firms, remove accounting distortions,... View Details
- November 2017 (Revised August 2018)
- Case
Fair Value Accounting at Noble Group (A)
By: Siko Sikochi, Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher
Noble Group was a large commodities trader based in Hong Kong and listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. In 2012, Noble shifted its business strategy towards an asset-light model. Under this model, Noble did not own mines or farms to produce commodities but built... View Details
- June 2017
- Case
AT&T Versus Verizon: A Financial Comparison
By: V.G. Narayanan and Joel L. Heilprin
This case asks students to prepare a report comparing the financial and operating performance of AT&T and Verizon. Taking the perspective of a communications industry analyst, they must also consider the differences between and implications of the companies' business... View Details
- June 12, 2017
- Article
Corporate Balance Sheets in Emerging Markets: A Comparison of the Global Crisis and the Asian Financial Crisis
By: Laura Alfaro, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari and Ugo Panizza
Leverage levels in emerging market firms rose dramatically in the aftermath of the Global Crisis. This column examines whether concerns of a repeat of the Asian financial crisis, which was largely attributed to corporate financial roots, are justified. While firm... View Details
- 2017
- Working Paper
Lessons Unlearned? Corporate Debt in Emerging Markets
By: Laura Alfaro, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari and Ugo Panizza
This paper documents a set of new stylized facts about leverage and financial fragility for emerging market firms following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Corporate debt vulnerability indicators during the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) attributed to corporate... View Details
- 2016
- Article
The Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet as a Financial-Stability Tool
By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel Gregory Hanson and Jeremy C. Stein
We argue that the Federal Reserve should use its balance sheet to help reduce a key threat to financial stability: the tendency for private-sector financial intermediaries to engage in excessive amounts of maturity transformation—i.e., to finance risky assets using... View Details
- November 2016 (Revised April 2018)
- Case
Darby's Investment in Sirma: Professionalizing an Entrepreneurial Firm
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Eren Kuzucu
In March 2010, Burak Dalgın (HBS MBA 2004) led private equity firm Darby's investment in Sırma, a local Turkish water and beverage company. Sırma was owned and managed by members of two Turkish business families. The existing management, while being highly... View Details
- September 2015
- Teaching Note
Unidentified Industries: Australia 2014
Helps students to understand how the characteristics of a business are reflected in the firm's financial statements. In this exercise, students are given balance sheet data in percentage form (common-size balance sheets) and other selected financial ratios for a set of... View Details
- September 2015 (Revised July 2016)
- Case
Unidentified Industries: Australia 2014
By: Benjamin Esty and William E. Fruhan, Jr.
Helps students to understand how the characteristics of a business are reflected in the firm's financial statements. In this exercise, students are given balance sheet data in percentage form (common-size balance sheets) and other selected financial ratios for a set of... View Details
- March 2015
- Article
Vulnerable Banks
By: Robin Greenwood, Augustin Landier and David Thesmar
We present a model in which fire sales propagate shocks across bank balance sheets. When a bank experiences a negative shock to its equity, a natural way to return to target leverage is to sell assets. If potential buyers are limited, then asset sales depress prices,... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Fire Sales of Safe Assets
By: Gabor Pinter, Emil Siriwardane and Danny Walker
We use trade-level data to study price pressure effects in the UK gilt market from September to October 2022. During this period, forced sales by liability-driven investment funds (LDIs) led to price discounts on the order of 10%, accounting for roughly half the total... View Details
- February 2014 (Revised October 2014)
- Case
ISS A/S: The Buyout
By: Clayton Rose, Carsten Bienz and Lucy White
Provides the opportunity to value a leveraged buy-out; and to examine the nature and extent of a company's responsibilities to its bondholders. Here, the context is a "going private" transaction in Europe, where the financing plan called for the addition to the... View Details
Keywords: LBO; Private Equity; Contracts; Global Business; International Business; Finance; Ethics; Law; Service Industry; Europe
- September 2013
- Teaching Note
The Case of the Unidentified Industries—2013
By: Mihir A. Desai, William E. Fruhan, Jr. and Elizabeth A. Meyer
Helps students to understand how the characteristics of a business are reflected in its financial statements. This case consists of an exercise in which students are given balance sheet data in percentage form and other selected financial data for companies in 14... View Details
- September 2013
- Case
The Case of the Unidentified Industries—2013
By: Mihir A. Desai, William E. Fruhan Jr. and Elizabeth A. Meyer
Helps students to understand how the characteristics of a business are reflected in its financial statements. This case consists of an exercise in which students are given balance sheet data in percentage form and other selected financial data for companies in 14... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised April 2017)
- Supplement
Maxum Petroleum, Inc.
By: W. Carl Kester
Maxum seeks an oil-price hedging strategy that yields substantial cash during oil price spikes, is affordable under ordinary circumstances, and is easily managed. It is striving to avoid a repeat of the challenging situation encountered in 2008 when spiking oil prices... View Details
- November 2012
- Case
Ahold versus Tesco—Analyzing Performance
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Penelope Rossano
The case relates to understanding and comparing the performance of two leading retail companies—Ahold and Tesco. The case introduces the tools of Dupont and Modified Dupont Decomposition. While performance as measured by return on equity has been similar for the two... View Details
- October 2012
- Case
Hill Country Snack Foods Co.
By: W. Carl Kester and Craig Stephenson
Hill Country Snack Foods, located in Austin, Texas, manufactures, markets, and distributes snack foods and frozen treats. The CEO is passionate about maximizing shareholder value and believes in keeping tight control over costs and operating the business as efficiently... View Details
- November 2011
- Case
Pacific Grove Spice Company
By: William E. Fruhan and Craig Stephenson
Pacific Grove Spice Company is a profitable, rapidly growing manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of quality spices and seasonings. The company's business model requires significant investment in accounts receivable, inventory, and fixed assets to support sales.... View Details
- September 2011
- Case
AXA Private Equity: The Diana Investment
By: Michael J. Roberts and William A. Sahlman
The case focuses on an investment made by AXA Private Equity, a French manufacturer of food ingredients. The investment is made at the height of the financial markets, and financed with significant debt. Soon thereafter, the financial crisis impacted the company's... View Details
- December 2010
- Article
Work Pray Love
This article identifies five problematic issues in the intersection of work and life that create human resource challenges for organizations and their employees. These include work overload, the slow pace of adopting telecommuting, gender-related pay gaps, a household... View Details